Module 4 :

Lasers
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 Introduction to LASERS
• The word LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Laser is a device that
amplifies or increases the intensity of light and produces highly
directional light.
• LASER also generate light by the process known as stimulated
emission of radiation (photons)
• Some lasers generate visible light but others generate
ultraviolet or infrared rays which are invisible
• lasers produce highly directional, monochromatic, coherent and
polarized light beam.

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 Fundamental process of laser action
When light interact with matter three fundamental processes can
happen

• Absorption
(Stimulated Absorption)

• Spontaneous emission

• Stimulated emission
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 Stimulated Absorption

The rate of absorption can be defined as

Rab  B12   N1
   Is the photon intensity N1 Number of atoms in the ground state 4

B12 Einstein coefficient of absorption

 Spontaneous Emission

The rate of spontaneous emission can be defined as

Rsp= A21 N2
A12 Einstein coefficient of Spontaneous emission
5
N 2 Number of atoms in the excited state
Note: Life time of atoms in the excited state is approximately 10-8s
 Spontaneous Emission
Characteristics of spontaneous emission

• The emission is fully probabilistic, not controlled by external forces

• The direction, instant of transition, initial phase and plane of

polarization all are random

• Light is not monochromatic and incoherent

• Light spreads in all directions and it attenuate rapidly with distance

• The net intensity

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I total  NI
 STIMULATED Emission

The rate of stimulated emission can be defined as

Rab  B21  N 2
B21 Einstein coefficient of stimulated emission 7

Note: Life time of atoms in the excited state is approximately 10-3s

Characteristics of STIMULATED Emission
• The process of stimulated emission can be controllable
• The emitting photons will be in same direction, initial phase,
polarization and frequency as that of the incident photon
• Multiplication of Photons: The photon emitted interact with
another photon and produce stimulated emission producing two
photons. These stimulated photons stimulate further emissions
and produce a avalanche effect.
• Light Amplification: Since the photon have same initial phase,
they will interfere constructively and amplify the photon
intensity

I total  N 2 I
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Relation b/n Einstein Coefficients
Under equilibrium condition, the rate of absorption should be equal to the rate of
total emission from the system (i.e, spontaneous emission + stimulated emission )

i.e Rab  Rspon  Rsti

or B12 N1     A21 N 2  B21 N 2    Eqn (1)

A21 N 2
This can be rearranged as follows     Eqn (2)
B12 N1  B21 N 2

Dividing by B21 N 2 = A /B {1/N /N (B /B -1))

21 21 1 2 12 21 Eqn (3)

From Boltzmann's distribution law, the ratio of populations of two levels at

temperature T is expressed as 9

N2  E  h Where, K is the Boltzmann's constant and

 e KT  e KT h is the Planck’s constant.
N1
Relation b/n Einstein Coefficients
Substituting in Eqn (3)
A21
B12
    Eqn (4)
h B21
e KT
 B12
Now according to Planck’s radiation law, the energy density of the black body
radiation of frequency v at temperature T is given as
ρ (υ)= 8πhv3/c3(1/ehv/KT) Eqn (5)

Comparing Eqn (4) and (5)

B21 A21/B21=8πhv3/c3 Eqn (6)
1 and
B12

We get
(i) B12 = B21, The probability of spontaneous emission is same as that of induced absorption.
This means that if these two processes will occur at equal rates,
so that no population inversion can be attained in a two-level system. 10
(ii) The ratio of spontaneous emission and stimulated emission is proportional to v .
3

This implies that the probability of spontaneous emission dominates over induced
emission more and more as the energy difference between the two states increases.
 Significance of Einstein Coefficients

Since the Einstein coefficients are properties of single atoms,

ions and molecules, and since a single particle has no way of
"knowing" whether or not it is in thermodynamic
equilibrium, these relationships must hold in general, i.e., even
if the radiating/absorbing particles are not in a state of
thermodynamic equilibrium

Eqn (6) shows that the ratio of Einstein’s coefficient of

spontaneous emission to the Einstein’s coefficient of stimulated
absorption is proportional to cube of frequency. It means that at
thermal equilibrium, the probability of spontaneous emission
increases rapidly with the energy difference between two 11
states.
 Laser Action
• At normal condition,
the No: of atoms in the ground state
should be > the No: of atoms in the excited state.

• A high intensity photons interact with the matter always

increase the process of absorption within the matter.
Similarly, the atoms in the excited state tends to jumps to
the ground state through spontaneous emission. Hence, at
normal condition the probability of absorption and
spontaneous emission will be dominant as compared to
stimulated emission

• In order to produce a laser action, the rate of stimulated

emission should be dominant as compared to the rate of 12
absorption and/or the rate of spontaneous emission
 Laser Action
• For laser action : Two factors plays an important role. (A)
ratio of stimulated emission to spontaneous emission , R1
(B) ratio of stimulated emission to rate of absorption, R2
• (A) Ratio of stimulated emission to spontaneous emission

Rsti B   N 2 B21
R1   21     Eqn (7)
Rspont A21 N 2 A21

Using Eqn (6) and rearranging

1
R1  h Eqn (8) 13
e KT
1
 Laser Action
• (B) Ratio of stimulated emission to Absorption
B21 N 2    B21 N 2
R2  
B12 N1    B12 N1
N2
R2  Eqn (9)
N1

Hence by analysing Eqn (7) and Eqn (9), we can suggest three
conditions to produce laser action (high degree of stimulated
emission)
1. N2>N1

B21
2. A21
Should be larger
14

Should have high intensity

3.   
 Laser action

The conditions for the commencement of laser action mentioned in the

previous slides can be achieved by

1. Population inversion

2. Introduction of metastable states

3. Use of Optical Resonant Cavity

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 Population inversion

Population of two level system (a) at thermal

equilibrium (b) after population inversion

 The process of altering the normal population distribution

by achieving larger number of atoms in the excited state as
compared to the ground state is termed as POPULATION
INVERSION

 With population inversion the photons passing through the

active medium gets amplified (through stimulated 16

emission) rather than attenuated (through absorption)

 Metastable states

 State of equilibrium: The system at its lowest possible

energy level
 Metastable state: The system is in equilibrium but not in its
lowest energy level.
 From metastable state the atoms will come to ground state
only through stimulated emission 17
 The life time of atoms in the metastable state will be
longer as compared to the excited state
 Optical Resonant Cavity

 An optical cavity, or an optical resonator, may be described as an arrangement

of mirrors that produce a standing light wave resonator. Optical cavities, along
with their optical gain, are an integral part of lasers

 One of the mirror is fully reflective and the other mirror is partially reflective.
The laser beam emerges from the partially reflective mirror once the gain of
the medium=loss in the medium

 The mirrors give a positive feedback into the active medium hence the medium
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operates as a oscillator.
 Components of Laser
Three components of LASER

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3. Optical resonator cavity: Discusses previously

 Different Pumping Sources
• a) Optical pumping: In this, the population inversion is achieved
by means of light energy delivered from appropriate pumping
source such as gaseous discharge or flash tubes. For example, in
ruby laser, xenon flash tube is used.
• b) Electric discharge: pumping: this type of pumping
accomplished by means of intense electrical discharge in the
medium and is particularly suited to gas media like He-Ne laser and
CO2 laser. The electric discharge coverts the gas into a plasma
where active centers collide inelastically with free electrons and
population inversion is achieved.
• c) Chemical pumping: It raises active centers into the higher
levels by means of suitable exothermal chemical reactions in the
active medium. 20
• Heat pumping: In this type of pumping, the active material is first
brought to a high temperature then rapidly cooled down.
 Three level pumping system
 The atom in the ground state absorbs
Photons and excited to the high energy unstable
state

 From the higher unstable energy state the

atoms undergo spontaneous emission and
collected in the metastable state

 The number of atoms in the metastable state

increase because of the longer lifetime at the
metastable state

 Population inversion is achieved between the

ground state and the metastable state

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Laser action is taken place between ground state and
higher metastable energy level
 Four level pumping system
 The four level pumping system contains
four energy levels E1 E2 E3 and E4 with
number of atoms at each level N1 N2 N3 and
N4 respectively

 The pumping photons excite the ground

level atoms into the upper excited level (E 4)

 From level 4 the atoms decays to level 3, which is the upper excited level of the
metastable state. The decay is fast and non-radioative

 Since the life time of the atoms in the metastable state is higher , atoms starts
accumulating in level 3 and this atoms decays to level 2 by spontaneous or
stimulated emission

 From level 2 the atoms de-excite to ground state by fast and non –radioactive
decay.

 The population inversion is achieved between level 3 and level 2. 22

Comparison of different pumping schemes

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 LASERS

LASERS can be classified according to

(a) active medium

 Solid state lasers

 Gas lasers
 Semiconductor
 Liquid dye laser
 Excimer

(b) output

 Continuous-wave laser
 Pulsed laser 24
 Gas LASERs
• A gas laser is a type of laser in which a mixture of gas is used as
the active medium or laser medium. Gas lasers are the most
widely used lasers.

• Gas lasers range from the low power helium-neon lasers to the
very high power carbon dioxide lasers. The helium-neon lasers
are most commonly used in college laboratories whereas the
carbon dioxide lasers are used in industrial applications.

• The main advantage of gas lasers (eg: He-Ne lasers) over solid
state lasers is that they are less prone to damage by overheating
so they can be run continuously.
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 Helium neon laser
• Helium-Neon laser is a type of gas laser in which a mixture of
helium and neon gas is used as a active medium.
• The helium-neon laser was the first continuous wave (CW)
laser ever constructed. It was built in 1961 by Ali Javan,
Bennett, and Herriott at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
• He-Ne laser is a four-level laser
• The helium-neon laser operates at a wavelength of 632.8
nanometers (nm), in the red portion of the visible spectrum.

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 Helium neon laser-Construction
• The setup consists of a discharge tube of
length 80 cm and bore diameter of
1.5cm.
• The active medium of the laser is a
mixture of helium and neon gases, in a
5:1 to 20:1 ratio, contained at low
pressure in a glass envelope.
• The pump source of the laser is provided by an electrical discharge of
around 1000 volts through an anode and cathode at each end of the
glass tube. A current of 5 to 100 mA is typical for CW operation.
• The optical cavity of the laser typically consists of a plane, high-reflecting
mirror at one end of the laser tube, and a concave output coupler mirror
of approximately 1% transmission at the other end.
• HeNe lasers are normally small, with cavity lengths of around 15 cm up
to 0.5 m, and optical output powers ranging from 1 mW to 100 mW.
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Helium neon laser-Working

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Application of Helium neon laser

• The Narrow red beam of He-Ne laser is used in

supermarkets to read bar codes.

• The He- Ne Laser is used in Holography in

producing the 3D images of objects.

• He-Ne lasers have many industrial and scientific

uses, and are often used in laboratory
demonstrations of optics

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Carbon Dioxide (Co2) Laser
• Carbon dioxide lasers are gas lasers which emit infrared
radiation

• Active medium is a mixture of Co2 , N2 and He

• The proportion depends upon the laser system and excitation

mechanism. In general for a continuous laser it will be 1:1:8

• The laser transition takes place between the vibrational states

of CO2 molecules within the same electronic states

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Carbon Dioxide (Co2) Laser

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 Construction

It consists of a quartz tube 5 m long and 2.5 cm in the

diameter.

This discharge tube is filled with gaseous mixture of

CO2(active medium), helium and nitrogen with suitable
partial pressures
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The terminals of the discharge tubes are connected to a
D.C power supply
Working Principle

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Working Principle

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 Application of CO2 laser

• High Powered lasers- material processing applications such as

welding, cutting etc.

• Water is capable of absorbing CO2 laser- Surgical procedures

• Used in military applications

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 Semiconductors
• Materials can be classified in to three categories

(A) Conductors – The materials with no band gap hence

electrons can move freely

(B) Insulators- The materials with a large band gap hence

prevent the motion of electrons

(C) Semiconductors – The materials having a small band

gap, and the flow of electrons and electron holes can be
controlled by adding impurities to the material

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